Madagascar

Across Africa, rooftop solar is stepping in to fill the void as fears of non-payment and inflation-reduced donor funding dampen enthusiasm for big solar. Commercial and industrial (C&I) arrays are leading the charge, driving consolidation in markets overstocked with startup and mid-size installers.

Madagascar has tendered a 200 MW solar project near Antananarivo and a 10 MW facility on its north coast.

Axian has secured MGA 47.1 billion ($10.9 million) to finance a 40 MW solar plant and a 5 MWh storage facility in Madagascar. The installation is the island state’s largest solar park.

The International Renewable Energy Agency’s latest annual report on the progress towards UN sustainable development goal seven estimates 670 million people will still lack electricity in 2030, and more than 2 billion will be reliant on unhealthy, polluting cooking methods.

Madagascar-based Filatex has invested €10 million in French flywheel storage system manufacturer Energiestro. The two companies are planning to deploy Energiestro’s flywheel storage solutions across Madagascar and Mauritius

The project consists of an 8 M W solar PV plant that is scheduled to be operational in 2022 and a 12 MW wind farm that will be commissioned in 2023. Both facilities will be connected to an 8.25 MW battery and will cover 60% of the annual electricity consumption of the Fort-Dauphin mine, located in the south of the island.

With pressure mounting on the world’s governments to turn their back on the fossil fuel, China and peers in South East Asia, Europe and South Asia could help deliver a coal-free future at the COP26 climate summit planned in Glasgow in November.

The 8 MW/12MW wind-solar facility will be connected to 8.2 MW of storage and will power operations at Rio Tinto’s ilmenite mine in Southern Madagascar.

A report commissioned by EU lender the EIB has dismissed the role solar mini-grids can play in achieving universal electrification by 2030 and signaled distribution to individual households should be the way forward, including sales to the residents of UN refugee camps in East Africa.

The Africa Solar Industry Association has recorded almost 2 GW of large scale project announcements since the start of last month with 18 countries planning new clean power infrastructure and including energy storage in the plants.